Rose in the Wilderness
by C1ockworks
Summary: After Mari watches her love explode in a star of light in the smoke filled sky. The others help her escape to safety. Be can she continue on? Prequel to Memento Mari  may contain some MarixAkane
1. Chapter 1

My second shot at Blue Drop. I read a bit of the manga and I kinda get it... I think... but anyways the anime is more appealing to me so here this is. (As usual I don't ever proofread these until after they're posted so grammar and spelling will be updated shortly. So... enjoy!

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><p>"Mari, we can't stay here we've got to go." said a voice I couldn't directly recognize. I felt them tugging on my arm. But I couldn't tear my eyes away from that bright light in the sky. I'm certain that's where she went. I'm just as certain she may not come back. But if I wait for her maybe... no that's crazy. A dark haired figure blocked my view of the sky crashing me back down to realty. Smoke and cinders, explosions and chaos was what I was standing in the midst of. There in front of me was Miss Sugawara.<p>

"Mari... there's nothing more we can do for her. We've got to get out of here." she urged as she spun me around and pushed me towards the others who looked just as stuck as I was. "The rest of you, too we've got to get out of here. Can't you see were in danger? Get your heads out of the clouds! Let's move!" she barked as she extended her arms to push Mich and Akane along. The Dorm Chief and Hagino's trio of fans followed after one more glance at the sky that I wish I could have borrowed from them. I held my head down and tightened my eyes shut to hold in the tears.

"Such an idiot... Hagino..." I grumbled through clenched teeth. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Mari..." I think Michiko said. She placed a hand on my shoulder. I couldn't gather the strength to shake it off even though I really wanted to. We kept going, I'm not sure how far but we got a to small white bus, probably one of the school shuttles for commuter students.

"Everybody get in, quick." Miss Sugawara slid open the back door and we all jumped in as she settled in the drivers seat. Mich sat next to me on the first row of seats Akane and the Dorm Chief sat behind us and Hagino's fan girls behind them. I'm not sure where she got keys from but she started the vehicle and we sped off. "We've got to find a way out of all this."

"This is crazy! Why are aliens attacking us? Aren't these supposed to be Hagino's people?" Akane asked, there was an unfamiliar sound of fear in her voice.

"They're not like her." I said softly.

"Why are they attacking here?" Dorm Chief asked in her usual over dramatic voice.

"I hope Miss Hagino's okay. Even though it seems pretty unlikely. Yeah." said the trio in their respective order.

"Whatever she did up there... it was really brave." Michiko sighed her voice shaking.

"It was really stupid." I growled. "She always takes everything upon herself. Always takes full responsibility for everything. And she never has to. It wasn't brave what she did... it was damn stupid. And now she's dead..."

"Mari!" Mich said with a raised voice.

"Did you not see what she did?" Akane said with the same pitch.

"How could you say that? That's not very nice. And I thought you two were friends." the trio chimed in.

"Leave her alone, girls." Miss Sugawara said. "She's hurt just like the rest of us are. Just give her some time." I stared at the floor, refusing to look at anyone. I didn't wanna see anyone's face. Except for Hagino's so I can beat some damn sense into her. Always trying to be the hero. Who exactly was she trying to save? I could feel my body shaking, ready to let out all the emotion I was holding in. I wasn't ready to cry yet. I can't cry now. I'm too angry. My vision started to blur and I could feel heat coming from my eyes. Hot tears that couldn't be held in any longer fell from my eyes onto my shoes. I tried to cover it up from everyone else. I couldn't cry after all that, but at this point I didn't care. No matter how mad I am at her. I can't stop myself from loving her. Not for a second. I felt my breath starting to choke back in my throat and more tears falling from my eyes until I found myself sobbing uncontrollably on Mich's shoulder.

"Well it seems that the further inland we go the less alien resistance there is." I heard Miss Sugawara say. "At least she kept them back long enough for us to get away," I could feel everyone's eyes rest on me. But I couldn't stop crying long enough to give a reply, even less had a reply to give.

"Well, what will we do about our families?" Mich said, voice still shaking.

"Well, Michiko, as harsh as it sounds we can't worry about them right now." Miss Sugawara said in a pretty cold tone. "All we can do is make sure we all survive long enough to look for them later." That set an overbearing silence throughout the bus. With the exception of my sobs of course. I'm sure everyone could already guess that that was the case already.

"So where are we headed now?" Akane asked, trying to keep a level head for the rest of us.

"Hopefully to an evacuation center, if they aren't blown to bits by now." Sugawara replied. "But you girls try to rest let me worry about the details. I'll let you know when it's time to move." Everyone gave a silent agreement. I felt myself starting to regain control of my crying so I tried to ease my breathing back to a normal level. Yet the pain of the spear through my heart was still there. I decided to take Miss Sugawara's advice and try to let myself rest before we had to take action again. I made myself a bit more comfortable on Mchiko's shoulder. I looked up at her to make sure it was okay. She gave me a small smile, very small, before she rested her head on mine. I could feel slender hands squeeze my shoulder that I'm sure belonged to Akane.

"We're here for you, pipsqueak." she said softly. I heard everyone else behind me confirm their agreement. I closed my eyes as I felt her hand lift from my shoulder and let the bumping and swaying of the bus help guide me to sleep.

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><p>Let me know what you think. I feel like this is gonna be another fun one. Looks like I'll be busy again. Leave a review. tell me your thoughts so far. Chapter 2 should be out soon.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

I Will admit to this chapter being rushed but I had to get someting out because if I didn't I would fall even further behind on my papers that I have to do. One was due last week and the other on friday. So this is here to serve as a place holder. I will be doing this one over-ish. Probably just to clarify some narratives and such but here it is. Chapter 2. Thanks to **PolerBair** again for reviewing.

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><p>I opened my eyes to the reflection of the sun distorted by ocean waves. I felt like I was sinking, but I could still breathe. My body was limply following the waters current, my eyes locked on the sun from underwater watching it wave and ripple then... darken. Like it was blocked, and by something huge. My eyes widened as a huge ship, like Hagino's space ship plunged into the water squealing loudly like a whale. The lights glowing purple and few yellow lights were beautifully terrifying. I wanted to move to avoid getting crushed but I couldn't, I just kept sinking. The ship gracefully dove downwards to my distant side, the lights dancing across my body and again my eyes drifted back to the sun which, again, was blocked. Although not entirely. This time it was something much smaller in front of it. Soon a mass of bubbles appeared around the darkness of that figure, like it plunged in too. As it cleared, all I could see were shining, bright, piercing blue eyes that grew closer and closer to me. I could later recognize the figure attached as someone swimming.<p>

"Hagino?" I spoke. I felt my mouth move but no words came out. I could see her dark hair flowing through the water, her gentle smile. Her eyes grew less bright but still very vibrant as she got closer. I could see she was wearing her Arume uniform, the same one from that memory we shared in the abandoned restaurant. I managed to reach my hands out to her. She reached out to me as her Arume uniform faded to her school uniform. Her fingers interlocked with mine as she pulled me closer with a smile.

"I love you." she said. She briefly pressed her lips to mine before she released my hands and pulled away changing this time into her Commanders uniform.

"No! Hagino! Come back! Don't leave!" I screamed yet no sound again. I couldn't get my body to move to chase after her. Her ship flew quickly behind her, seemingly swallowing her up. They both emerged from the deep towards the sun. This time it got brighter, and brighter until they exploded; engulfing the sky and sea with a blinding yellow light.

My eyes jerked open and I flew to my feet. "Hagi-!" I screamed. This time I was completely audible and had full operation of my body. I suppose I hadn't completely fallen out of bed this morning but I did once I came crashing down on my face from jumping up from the edge of my bed. By this time completely startled, I quickly scanned around for Hagino and found myself in a small room. It looked something like the inside of a cabin. "It was... just a dream..." I breathed trying to catch my breath.

"What the hell, Mari?" came Akane's clearly irritated voice from above me. Apparently this was a bunk bed. "I thought you would sleep way later than this."

"Where are we?" I asked pushing myself back onto my knees. Looking up at the bed wondering how I managed to not hit my head.

"We're actually not far from Kaiho. This is an old campsite we used to use for field trips but we sopped coming so it became abandoned after a while." Akane explained, her arms folded against the wall and her head resting on them. She wore something like the green tank she wore on vacation over the summer. Guess she wore that under her costume.

"Why are we still here? Aren't they still attacking the island? We've gotta get out of-" I said jumping to my feet again. Before Akane's simple lowering of her brow silenced me. I felt like I was in trouble...

"You still don't get it do you?" she replied with a shake of her head. "I'm glad I'm in here and not Michiko."

"What are you talking about?" I asked angrily. Still a bit confused as to why I'm the only one to seem how urgent this is.

"Sad thing is, I don't think you'll understand until you can come to terms with Hagino's death. And who knows how long that'll take..." Akane said, rotating her arms from behind her head to across her chest.

"Well how can you expect me to?" I said softly. I felt tears welling up. I tightened my fist on the wooden floor.

"Listen, Mari. We're here because Miss Sugawara though it might be too dangerous to stay at the Academy. And since what Hagino did, sacrificing herself and all, stopped all the fighting over the island." Akane said looking me in the eye now. "She did that for all of us. But even more for you, Mari." I held her intense gaze with one of my own for a second, it was kinda like a silent submission match. I gave in knowing she wasn't going to.

"I know she did..." I said softly looking at my balled fist on the floor. "I just wish there was another way she could've done it." I felt a single tear run down the side of my face.

"She wouldn't want you to be sad about it, you know." Akane scolded.

"...Yeah," I sighed. "It just hurts so much."

"It does." Akane nodded. She pushed herself from her bed and dropped down to the floor and knelt next to me. Turns out she had on a pair of shorts with her tank top. "And I know it's taking a bigger toll on you than anyone else, Squeak. But you have to be strong and get through this like she would have wanted you to, alright?"

"I don't..." I started. I was trembling, because I know everything she said was true. And here I am acting like a baby. "I don't know if... if I..." I couldn't finish, Akane wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me towards her.

"Eh, this isn't really my thing but...," she started with a low voice that intended to be.. tender... maybe. "We are all here for you. Me, Michiko, Hiroko, and Miss Sugawara. Heck even Hagino's fan girls are behind you. We want to help you. So give us a chance to, okay?" I nodded out of stunned confusion. This was entirely too much emotion for one morning. She released me and gave me an awkward smile. "Don't tell anyone I did that."

"Yeah." I said slowly.

"Well I'm gonna go wash up and see if there's anything around we can eat. You try to get some more rest." Akane rose and headed out the door and down the hall. I crawled back into my bunk and threw the blankets over my head.

"That was weird..." I sighed as I laid my head back on my pillow. I let my eyes close and try to not think about Hagino. But I knew I wouldn't be able to yet. I'm not ready to. I curled up with my blankets clinched tightly against me. "Why'd you have to sacrifice yourself you big dummy?" I sniffed before more tears fell from my eyes. I let myself fall asleep, silently praying for no more dreams like before. I'm sure the next time I wouldn't be so lucky to miss hitting my head...

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><p>Short, awkwardly sweet. Need some going over but I probably won't post anything until about next week. Sorry...<p>

By the way the whole 'outside of Kaiho' thing is mainly because all the fics I read they were still in the academy... it never made sense to me why they would stay there like nothing happened... just take in the refugees and keep school going it's all good, even though the planet is being invaded and all...


	3. Chapter 3

Grammar is fixed, there should be way ess errors now. I'm starting to see that most of this is because of my keyboard keys. Some of them take more pressure than others... But anyway here it is the newly revised chapter 3.

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><p>I finally made my way out of bed, realizing that I wasn't going to get any more sleep. I walked out of the room peeking around the doorway to a long hall extending on both sides. The left side ended with a door to another room I guess and the right went out into a sitting room. I walked towards the sitting room where I could hear the sound of plates knocking together. Guess it was almost time for breakfast. As I walked into the sitting room I could see Akane and Miss Suguwara cooking up what food they could get for breakfast n the kitchen across the room. Looked like just some rice and maybe some soup. Mich was quietly sitting at the table with one of her scripts. I don't think the others were up yet.<p>

"Uh, good morning, guys." I said awkwardly. They all turned to me, all with smiles; Michiko with the greatest.

"Couldn't get back to sleep, huh?" Akane said with her back to me, attending to her cooking.

"Good morning, Mari." Miss Sugawara said, starting to set the table.

"Mari, how are you doing?" Mich asked hesistantly. Guess she was being careful not to upset me.

"I'm... better, I think," I replied, I walked towards the table to take a seat next to her. "Not sure how I am, honestly."

"Well, I hope you feel better soon, Mari." Michiko said softly. "I know how close you two were and..."

"That's enough, Michiko." Akane snapped without wavering a bit from her cooking. Everyone was silent, including Miss Sugawara making for a pretty awkward moment.

"Sorry, I was just trying to help..." Mich finally said with her head hung. Seeing her like that kinda made me mad that Akane would do that to her.

"Hey, you didn't have to yell at her." I turned to Akane who was now scooping rice into bowls from the steamer. She continued like she didn't even hear me. "Akane!" I said again. This time a bit louder. This seemed more like her rather than before in the room.

"Miss Sugawara can you finish breakfast? Everything's already cooked all you have to do is serve it." Akane asked sternly.

"Sure..." Miss Sugawara replied with a confused tone.

"Michiko, would you mind telling the others it's time for breakfast?" she said, this time much more calm.

"Yeah." Mich said before she walked back down the hall.

"Wakatake, you and I need to have a talk outside." she said to me as she walked down another hallway parallel to the hall where the rooms were. This one was much shorter and led to a balcony outside. I followed, not really sure what more she'd want to talk about. She walked down the stairs from the far side of the balcony that overlooked a wooded are not too far for the camp grounds. You could see roofs of other cabins but those were kinda far off.

"Did you ever wonder why I roomed with you and not Michiko?" Akane asked before we were even half way down the steps. She turned and rested her hand on the thick wooden railing.

"It crossed my mind..." I replied, placing my hand on the railing too.

"What she said to you in there, I was trying to prevent that." she said with a serious glint in her eyes.

"W-what do you mean? She was worried about me! She wanted to make sure I was okay. What's so wrong with that?" I snapped back angrily.

"What she did is remind you of your loss." she returned with a voice as serious as mine. "I knew if you roomed with her all she would do is remind you of what you lost and hope that you could pull yourself together enough to maybe try to move on. I'm trying to help you to get over this and move on so you can be stronger."

"So you just want me to turn my back and ignore this like it never happened?" I shouted. "Look, in case you didn't know, I love Hagino and I always will. But she's dead because she wanted to protect us. I understand that what she did was important and I'm proud of her. But it doesn't make it hurt any less."

"And you can't bring her back." Akane said.

"...I know." I said through clinched teeth, tears falling from my eyes,

"There's nothing you can do about what she did." Akane said again.

"I know." I sniffed. I gripped onto the railing as hard as I could.

"So what are you going to do now?" Akane said again. "Are you gonna sulk and cry? Just be pathetic and depressed about it? I already told you that you know she wouldn't want you to be sad about it."

I tightened my eyes shut as I pulled my arm across my face, wiping away as many tears as I could. "I know."

"I'm not trying to tell you to forget about her." Akane said with a softer tone. It sounded like she was headed for that 'tender' voice again. "I'm trying to tell you to live on because of her."

"It's only been a day, but every time I think about her, I just want to be with her." said between sniffs. "To see her smile, to hold her hand, or hear her voice... It's just so hard to try to imagine myself without her even though we've only been together for a short time. And I... I've been so stubborn, denying how I felt all this time. I just wish I had more to spend with her. And now... she's..." I struggled to speak with every word until I could hardly speak anymore, My body trembled from head to toe. I felt a gentle hand guide my head up. My eyes opened to Akane's dark gray eyes. I didn't know she was that close...

"Let it all out, Mari." she said softly. "Let it out and let it go. Only hold on to her memory for motivation to keep you going. Don't let what she gave her life to do for you be in vain." I closed my eyes as that haunting star flashed through my mind. Tears fell from the sudden jerk of my heart. I felt Akane's arms wrap around me again as I fell back into another sobbing mess. I never looked at it from Akane's point of view but she's right. Hagino wouldn't want me crying over her. She would want me to keep going. Besides, if I did keep crying over it she would take all the blame for it anyway. I felt Akane's hand brush across my head, lightly rubbing my hair. It made me feel comfortable. I could feel my face turn red, kind of embarrassed that Akane of all people is comforting me like this. This side of Akane I'm not used to at all. But it's nice that she's willing to help me. Guess I can't really help how she does it. I lifted my arms to return her embrace.

"Thank you, Akane."


	4. Chapter 4

Turns out, when I originally posted this... I forgot to save it when I was done, so t only put on here how much I did before I saved it... leaving the chapter incomplete. And I didn't notice until now. So HERE is the completed chapter 4. Sorry guys.

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><p>I hadn't gone back inside yet. I figured since everything just hit me that I kinda wanted to be alone. I took a walk towards one of the other closer cabins. I haven't taken a walk in the woods in a long time. It's kinda nice. Birds were chirping in the trees, the wind blowing softly. Just would like to avoid the bugs. I used what I could see of the cabin through the trees to guide myself there. This walk was so peaceful, the most peace I've had in a while since school, and the play... and the attack. I paused and looked at the sky, looking for that star. I knew it was long gone by now, but... any kind of glimpse of her would make me happy.<p>

"I wish you could be here with me, Hagino." I said softly, looking into the sky. The sky, however, wasn't nearly as bright as her eyes. Her real eyes. Even though I've only seen them once... I felt tears threatening to fall but blinked them off. I'm not gonna cry about it. I know she wouldn't want me to. I'm gonna keep on living, just like she would want me to. I smiled at the sky before I turned my attention back to the cabin and continued on. After a few moments I reached the clearing to the next cabin. It was pretty identical to the last one; stairs leading up to a balcony, balcony leading inside. This cabin seemed a bit smaller; it didn't look like it had as many rooms as the other did. There were a few small picnic tables scattered around. I front of it. I didn't notice if we had any. I wandered up the stairs just to see if the cabin was open. I looked inside the wire screen door and saw pretty much nothing inside, just a rug or two and a Kaihou banner. I tugged on the door but it was locked.

I turned towards the balcony to walk around the rear of the cabin just to see what was around there when I heard something move. It sounded like someone walking on the wood floor. My heart nearly leaped out of my chest. I froze and turned towards the door of the cabin when I saw a slim blue eyed girl through the wire screen.

"Mari?" she gasped. I saw her reached for the door handle to unlock it.

"Tsubael!" I said softly. All the fear I was frozen by was replaced with relief.

"I'm so glad to see that you're okay!" she said as she approached.

"If you're here then that means..." I started with a smile filled with anticipation. But it slowly faded as Tsubael's head hung.

"I'm afraid not." she nearly whispered. "Before she shifted the ship on a crash course to the Novaal, she ejected me from the ship. There was nothing I could do. I'm sorry." She trembled a bit. I'm sure I heard her sniffling.

"Guess I'm not the only one devastated about it." I said quietly. She quickly picked her head up and looked me in the eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Mari. It's all my fault. The commander asked me to protect the school just long enough for the play. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't hold them off. So she had to sacrifice herself... to do what she asked me to do..." Tsubael said, tears falling from her face. "I'm sorry. I know how much she meant to you."

"It's not your fault." I said softly. I walked up to her and grabbed her shaking hands. Her eyes, almost as blue as Hagino's, were filled with tears. "She's told me about what a great gunner you are. You did what you could. She couldn't have asked for anyone better."

Tsubael looked at me with the most vulnerable eyes I've ever seen. "Mari..."

"Listen, a friend of mine told me that I shouldn't be sitting around feeling sorry about what happened because in reality, what Hagino did was for all of us, especially for you and me. She wanted us to live on. So we would have a better chance to survive. So that's what we have to do." I said tears threatening to fall again. "You know she wouldn't want us crying over her." She looked at me with a bit of a surprise and then smiled.

"You're right." she said, She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "It's just when I saw you, it just reminds me so much of her…. However that's not why I'm here." she said quickly collecting herself. I released her hands as she straightened. "You see, I know that the Commander would want me to do everything within my power to keep you safe. So that's what I intend to do. The fleet that was over the island was the only one attacking this part of Japan, and since Commander Ekaril... uh, Hagino, and I destroyed them all this island is safe. But, I'm not sure how long that will last, The Arume will be wondering what happened to an entire fleet where the invasion was so easy elsewhere."

"So... what should I do?" not much was going through my mind, oddly. I didn't feel like I was in danger.

"I'd say the best thing is to stay here." Tsubael shrugged. "Be careful not to let too many people know about your relationship with the Commander. Sooner or later they will be here. Do you know if any males are still on the island?"

"I don't know there may be," I replied. "Why? Are they after men or something?"

"Yes" Tsubael said plainly. "I believe you were sleeping when the commander explained it to you but our people came here because we've turned into an all-female species. We can still manage to reproduce but if we don't do something quick our people will die off. We came here to prevent that."

"Well honestly I don't think an invasion was very necessary. There are enough sex-crazed men here who would sleep with beautiful alien females…." I grumbled. "All you guys had to ask…"

"Yes. The commander and I saw that," Tsubael said softly. "But now it's too late. So the best thing we can do is keep you safe. You're traveling with others from your school, right?"

"Yeah." I replied.

"Alright. Well then it's the same as before I see." Tsubael said before turning back towards the house. I followed. "The ship that I was ejected from is around the back of the place. That was why I stopped you before you went back there before I knew who you were. But from there I can somewhat monitor you like I was monitoring the commander." We turned into a closed off room surrounded by screens with some type of words on them. Must have been in Arumean or something.

She pulled a lifeless looking bird from under a bunk bed. "These are what we used to speak to each other. I don't have enough power to shift to you so this will have to do." She tapped a button on her wristband and the bird cawed suddenly and fluttered around a bit. The eyes turn read when I speak so you'll be able to tell it from other birds. I'll keep you updated on anything I hear about the Arume. You'll have to relay those messages to your friends. I'm not sure how kindly they'll take to an alien helping them."

I looked to Tsubael with a small smile. "You'd be surprised."

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><p>Okay THIS is chapter 4. I did delete the other chapter so that everyone could be notified about this instead of replacing the chapter. So, there you go.<p> 


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